Seared Scallops with White Beans and Bacon

My husband found this recipe is his Men's Health Magazine and it is unbelievably delicious. I try to get him to make it for me whenever I can. Seriously, try it. You won't regret it. Add a salad and you have a very low calorie dinner. The scallops dish comes in at 284 calories but we added a few more scallops to ours which still kept it below 400 calories. Soooooo yummy!

It's PIZZA night!

Since it is 5K Friday and I burned over 500 calories, we have pizza a lot on Fridays. Here is what you need to make it:

1/4 loaf Rhodes 100% whole wheat frozen bread dough

1/2 c. Ragu Homemade pizza sauce

3/4 c. Sargento Reduced fat mozzarella

any toppings you want...

Using the thawed dough, roll it out to desired shape and thickness. Put it on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Put it in a 450 degree oven until the top of the dough just starts to brown. Pull the dough out out of the oven, add the sauce, put your toppings on, then the cheese

*** I put onions, spinach, mushrooms and red bell pepper in a saute pan with cooking spray and carmelized my veggies first before putting them on my pizza

My pizza was JUST under 600 calories. I am stuffed.

Am I a health nut?

HECK NO!!!! Am I trying to be healthier? ABSOLUTELY! My goal at the start of this was to be fit by 40. Quite honestly, I am not sure I was really fit at 20 or 30, so I figured it was a good idea to start since it isn't going to get any easier to get healthy after I turn 40. I have never been as active as I am today. I feel great. My knees don't bother me as much since I have lost weight and I am so much stronger...remember my "big guns" I mentioned in my medicine ball post? :)

I have learned so much about food and fitness. I am not saying I was ignorant before, I am just saying that I ignored the facts. Serving sizes are printed on packages for a reason. You should never think that it is OK to sit in front of the television, watching....ummmm, let's say, The Biggest Loser, with a pint of ice cream (hides face in shame). I am just more aware of the things that I eat.

Yes, I count calories. It keeps me accountable. I also workout 6 days a week. Quite honestly, a lot of the time, I work out so I can eat more. I love to cook and to deny myself cheese is the worst thing in the world to me. On the weekends I also have been known to drink the occasional martini or red wine. All of it is counted. If I am going out to eat, I look at the menu online to pick what I am going to eat before I arrive at the restaurant.

I also like to try some new things that I can replace higher calorie foods with so that the calorie count is lower. For instance, replacing milk in my cereal with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, or putting Tofu Shirataki noodles in my stir fry instead of brown rice. It is like a game for me sometimes.

Every week, My husband and I have a cheat meal. This is a meal that we eat whatever the heck we want. I can't completely stop eating the things I love. Last weekend, I had wings and onion rings. Heavenly. Did I work out that day to try to make the calorie hit a little easier? I sure did. Then I had a relaxing evening in with my husband and had a martini.

See? I am far from a health nut. As they say, "All things in moderation." Who knew that actually worked? Not me apparently. Ahh, I am so wise now in my old age.

All-In Yoga

I found this App called All-In Yoga and loaded it on my iPhone. There are 300 poses and the how-to's are modeled by an actual, easy to follow person. It separates poses by level and types and you can easily customize your favorite routine. LOVE IT!!

The Medicine Ball Workout

So my husband bought this medicine ball a few weeks ago and I was intrigued. You see, I have this fantasy of having muscular arms...not crazy, manly muscular arms. My arms currently have definition and I tell my kids to beware of my big guns (my arms). They laugh. I laugh. It is all pretty funny.

Anywho, back to the medicine ball....in Men's Health there is a medicine ball workout that I sometimes add to the end of my workout when I have the time and when I am feeling a little sassy. You can find the entire workout here. I enjoy it. It doesn't just work out your arms, it works out every muscle you have and even some you didn't even know you had. :)

International Food on a Stick Day...I almost missed it.

Ok. I lied. We were going to have the almond chicken for dinner last night, but my husband got new grates for the grill in the mail and we realized it was International Food on a Stick Day, so who am I to deny the need to grill. We will be having the Almond Chicken for dinner tonight though.

I ran to the store to buy the supplies for kabobs at lunch. I bought a 10 oz filet mignon, some squash, zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, red onion and a red bell pepper. We seasoned everything, skewered it up and tossed it on the grill. I have never been so happy for International Food on a Stick Day. It rocked.

Treadmill Workout

Do you want your treadmill work out to fly by? Turn on the tunes and do this workout we got from one of my husband's coworkers. It is crazy hard for me by the time I get to the 9mph sprints, but you can adjust it to fit your needs.

Minutes Speed Incline

0-5:00 4 1

5:00-8:00 4 5

8:00-10:00 4 8

10:00-12:00 4 10

12:00-14:00 4.3 10

14:00-16:00 4.3 8

16:00-18:00 4.5 5

18:00-20:00 4.8 1

20:00-22:00 5 1

22:00-24:00 6 1

24:00-26:00 7 1

26:00-27:00 5.5 1

27:00-27:30 8 1

27:30-28:30 5.5 1

28:30-29:00 9 1

29:00-31:00 5.5 1

31:00-35:00 4 1

Lazy Guy’s Food Review: Lean Cuisine ‘Simple Favorites’ Chicken Fried Rice

Editor's Note: My beautiful wife, 'The Lazy Girl’, invited me to post here every now and again.  We thought it would be fun to have a Lazy Guy’s point of view.

Just some quick background on me... I too have struggled with my weight. But seeing how well my wife was doing, I jumped on the bandwagon earlier this year.  I started to use the MyFitnessPal Android and iPad app in January. By tracking everything I consumed, I quickly discovered that I was eating a lot of useless crap.  Now, my wife and I cook together (good foods) and I run at least three times a week. I have lost 30 lbs and I am down at least two pant sizes. I love to eat, so this has been a little hard, but it has worked. What more can you ask for?

Thanks to my lovely wife’s help, I take my lunch to work now. It was all a part of my commitment to stop eating fast food (except for ‘special occasions’). So I decided to change things up a little, breaking from my usual ham & Turkey sandwich of bread flats, and look into some of the low calorie frozen meals.  As I try new foods, I plan on reviewing them for you.  Please keep in mind that I am approaching this from a guy’s point of view.

Today’s review is for the Lean Cuisine ‘Simple Favorites’ Chicken Fried Rice.

My photo of my lunch
It never looks like it does on the box, does it?

Just the facts:

Calories: 260

Fat: 5g

Fiber: 4g

Protein: 12g

Sodium: 530mg

Carbohydrates: 41g

Diet Exchange: 1 Lean Meat,2 1/2 Starch,1 Vegetable

Weight Watchers® PointsPlus™: 7

Keep reading... there's more!

Almond Crusted Chicken Breasts

This is what I am having for dinner tonight! I got the recipe from The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook by Jillian Michaels. I have made it before and it is very yummy!

serves 4

1/2 cup unsalted almonds, toast in a skillet (continually moving them around) for about 4 minutes

2 T extra virgin olive oil

3/4 tsp. grated lemon zest

1 T fresh lemon juice

3/4 tsp. dried rosemary

1 garlic clove

1/4 tsp salt

4 (4-5 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

preheat the oven to 425 degrees

In the bowl of a food processor, place the almonds, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, rosemary, garlic and salt. Process until coarsely chopped; the mixture will be a thin paste.

Arrange the chicken breasts in a baking dish. Divide the almond paste and spread on the breasts; pat down to cover each breast completely.

roast in the oven until cooked through and an instant read thermometer reads 160-170 degrees, about 10 minutes. Loosely tent with foil and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

The BEST Turkey Burgers

1 lb ground lean turkey breast

1/2 box frozen chopped spinach thawed and excess water removed

1 shallot minced

1 or 2 T of Dijon Mustard

Mix these 4 things together and break up the chunks of spinach so that it is evenly distributed. Form into 4 patties and cook them on the grill or in a skillet.

While the burgers are cooking, slice 8 oz of mushrooms and toss in a pan coated with cooking spray. Saute for a couple of minutes and then add one minced garlic clove. After the mushrooms are cooked through, add about 1/2 cup of white wine and stir mushrooms until the wine has evaporated.

Put the burger on top of a whole grain bun, add the mushrooms, perhaps some more dijon and ENJOY! These burgers are also good with swiss cheese on top.

My Favorite Snacks!

At about 3:00 in the afternoon, I am dying for a snack! I try to eat something every 4 hours or so and 3:00 is just about that point in between lunch and dinner. Some of my favorites are:

Multi-grain Peanut Butter Cheerios (My NEW favorite)

Almonds

Pop Secret 100 calorie packs

Edamame

yogurt

Pop Chips (BBQ flavor)

Frozen grapes

low fat string cheese

If I have the extra calories for the day, I eat anything at all covered in Nutella. :)

What do you LOVE to snack on?

Running Playlist

I need to listen to music when I run. Some of the songs currently on my playlist are:

Moves Like Jagger-Maroon 5

Raise Your Glass-Pink

Last Friday Night-Katy Perry

Born This Way-Lady Gaga

Misery-Maroon 5

Viva La Vida-Cold Play

Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)-Kelly Clarkson

Sexy Back-Justin Timberlake

Stronger-Kanye West

What are you listening to??

Shrimp Stir Fry

A super quick and easy recipe for shrimp stir fry we have been loving lately is one I just threw together one night and it was a big hit. Now, I must tell you that up until about 4 months ago, I am not sure my husband knew what a vegetable was as I had NEVER seen him eat one, but since our goal to get healthier, he eats all kinds of veggies. WHO KNEW??

Shrimp stir fry

2 garlic cloves minced

1 T grated ginger

1 red bell pepper chopped in bite-sized pieces

8 oz mushrooms sliced

12 asparagus spears sliced in bite-sized pieces

12 oz shrimp-peeled, deveined, tail off

5 T Kikkomon less sodium teriyaki marinade

cooking spray

First, I spray the pan with the cooking spray and then toss the veggies in the skillet for about three minutes. Then I add the ginger and garlic to the pan. I stir until the veggies are mostly cooked and then I add the shrimp until they are cooked through. At the end, I add Kikkomon less sodium teriyaki marinade. I put the stir fry on top of the Minute Ready to Serve Brown Rice sold in the individual cups (yes, I am THAT lazy that I won't cook rice). So good. Hubby eats it up. It is less than 500 calories.

I'm a sucker...

While watching The Biggest Loser last week, we saw Dolvett introduce a product to his team (gotta love product placement). When my husband and I saw the Yoplait Chocolate Banana Smoothie, we literally paused the show and he ran to the store to pick it up. We made the smoothies, unpaused the show and watched the rest of the show in absolute bliss. It was so yummy. There are several different yummy flavors, but the chocolate banana is my favorite. Each bag makes 2 smoothies, you just add skim milk. The smoothies are between 110 and 130 calories per serving.

My Best Friend: Myfitnesspal

For the last 3 months, I have been using the Myfitnesspal App on my iPhone (also available for Android phones). It is my electronic food journal. In the app, you add in all of your information like your current weight, how much you want to lose, how often you plan on working out and it gives you a target caloric intake. If you try it out, don't panic because it factors in that you will 'earn' calories back by working out.

I love that I can scan the barcodes on foods and it adds it with all of the calories and nutritional info automatically. It is so fast and easy. If, for some reason, it doesn't find the food, you can always search for it or enter it in manually. You can also use it online here. It is a calorie counter and has a huge database of foods. It even has a place where you can add your workouts (which adds more calories for you to consume in the day).

Yes, there are days that I workout so that I can consume more calories. I am not going to lie, I can't be on a completely strict diet. My husband has been on this weight loss journey with me since the new year and we have one diet cheat day a week. Most of the time, we still work out that day so that we don't blow it too huge, but nonetheless, it is a day we look forward to. The cheat day is great because you really feel like you earned it and that one day does not really throw your weight loss off.

The Quick Workouts!

I do not have the time, as I am sure is the case for most people, for lengthy workouts. These days I have been working out about 6 days a week. I have a 6 year old daughter, an 8 year old son, and a husband. I work from home 40 hours a week.

Every workout I do, I do from home or around my neighborhood. I am a HUGE Jillian Michaels fan. HUGE! Most of her workouts are about 30 minutes long and that is about as long as I want to spend. I do sometimes do longer workouts, but the majority are 30 minutes long.

I get up in the morning, make lunches for the husband and kids, get the kids ready for school and as soon as the kids are on the bus, I am working out. It is very important to me that I work out first thing in the morning or else, the likelihood of me working out later in the day decreases exponentially.

Some favorite Jillian workouts are The 30 Day Shred, Ripped in 30, 6 week Six-Pack, Yoga Melt Down, and Kickbox Fast Fix. Most of these DVDs have several workouts on them. In addition to the Jillian DVDs, I also do Yoga, Pilates and run/walk on the treadmill or outside. On Friday's, I have a shorter work day, so I have deemed it "5K Friday." I tend to use the treadmill more on Fridays and Saturdays because I can burn more calories quickly because those tend to be my high calorie days.

All I know is that a key to my weight loss has been the variety in my workouts. I am not someone who can do the same thing day after day. I will get bored and unmotivated. What is your workout routine? Please share!